There are two versions, one a blister pack, and the other is the normal packaging.
Are there any differences, IE: different cues on one, but not the other?

Unlike some of you hardcore "so-and-so everything" collectors, I'm just looking for a reasonably lengthed CD. I could ask around though.

Alwin, I never heard the official release, but it's mostly songs, and there's a LOT of score on the promo.

Shaun

Two things further deepened my interest: 1) my dad mentioned that the score worked well in the film; and 2) the local film critic of the Sacramento Bee, Joe Baltake, mentioned Goldsmith's effective contribution.

Maybe the positive feedback unfairly raised my expectations (I doubt it, though), but neither film nor score made much of an impression with me.

My sister-in-law owns the song-score soundtrack, so I've had numerous occasions to listen to Goldsmith's music and let it sink in. Besides a few passages here and there, though, what amount of score is on the Disney album largely did nothing for me. I remember Andy Dursin mentioned in one issue of FSM that Goldsmith's music (and perhaps the songs, also) was pleasant, but forgettable. I really don't want to label MULAN as "pleasant but forgettable" from a summarization of something I read (which is out of context), but that's really been my reaction to the score on the Disney album.

And the sequence really does matter. There's another CD going around that also has alternate takes, including the actual haircutting music from the film. It's really nice, a full 77 minute CD, but wherever possible, cues that were jammed together for the Disney CD are presented in that same way, so you go through the score until the part where Mulan shows up at the camp looking like a guy and suddenly the Avalanche music pops in because it's combined that way on the Disney CD. Again, all the music is great, but there's a lot to be said for its sequencing.

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Originally posted by Lorien:
Shaun and H. Rocco are dead right about Goldsmith the producer, and MULAN specifically.

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True. Williams isn't better in that sense, either.

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The score heard from beginning to end, complete (and that 60 second opening really IS worth it, in a Floating Office sort of way) is just a work of art.

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Hm. If I remember correctly, there are no sound effects and no dialogue during that sequence in the movie... I might rip the main title from the DVD and burn it, with the promo, on a complete Mulan CD.